City adds police dept. to existing computer system

Thursday

Aug 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The new law enforcement center project currently being built in downtown Redwood Falls is being shared by the county sheriff’s department, and the Redwood Falls police department; one side-effect of the enlarged headquarters is that the two departments are no longer able to share a record management system for conducting daily business.

By Joshua DixonStaff Writer

The new law enforcement center project currently being built in downtown Redwood Falls is being shared by the county sheriff’s department, and the Redwood Falls police department.One side-effect of the enlarged headquarters is that the two departments are no longer able to share a record management system for conducting daily business.The police department would prefer its own private computer network that would exist solely within the police side of the upgraded building.However, after studying the costs and benefits, the Redwood Falls City Council approved a second option — connecting the police department to the city’s already existing network infrastructure.Total estimated cost of the equipment for the modified system is $10,043, to be configured by Morris Electric. Labor costs are unknown at this time, but should not be more than one hour of labor.In other city news, the council:• Approved a bid for $59,340 to Johnson Matthey for the equipment portion of the air pollution control upgrade for the city’s Caterpillar generator engines at the south generation plant.Bids were opened on Jan 23 at city hall. Five bids were received from $55,740 to $119,226.Given the location of the south generation plant, staff recommended upgrading the units to what is called hospital grade noise attenuation, costing an additional $3,600.• Approved the appointment of Erin Kodet as financial analyst for the city.• Appointed Jan Madson and Dan Koster to the hospital commission.• Authorized the mayor and city administrator to execute a state aid for airport maintenance and operations agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation for 2014-2015. The agreement allows the state to reimburse the city of Redwood falls for 2/3 of the maintenance costs for up to $30,402 per year.